Suffering God
Sermon Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Charles Drew
Sermon Series: Suffering
Hebrews 2:5-18 (ESV)
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again,
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Sermon Outline
Introduction: God does not give us an explanation for suffering. He gives us himself.
I) The story begins with bad news
We have lost control of our lives, despite God’s loving intentions
A) God’s loving intention for us: vv. 6-8
6 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. "
God is mindful of us…he cares for us)
God has crowned with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under [our] feet.
B) Squandered calling: v. 8b:
…at present we do not see everything subject to him [that is, to the human race].
1) Rude awakening
2) Why do we treat each other and our planet the way we do?
Hebrews 2:15: Through fear of death [we are] subject to lifelong slavery.
Haunted and afraid: greedy, negligent and cruel
II) God’s good news
A) God chose to become our brother.
v. 14: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things
v. 17: Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect
• Rather than leave us in our mess…
• Great kindness
B) God became our brother to the bitter end.
v. 10: …he was made perfect through suffering
v. 9: …he tasted death for everyone
• Starving in the wilderness.
• Gethsemane: “Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt. 26:53).
• Jesus and George Floyd
Jesus chose (v. 17) to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God
III) Why did God do this?
A) Because he had to
1) The only way
v. 10: For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
v. 9:…so by the suffering of death…he might taste death for everyone
“Fitting”
In every day of Jesus’ life, “Will you prove yourself to be a true man
2) Why necessary?
To make propitiation (v. 17)
The mystery of it all
vv. 14-15: through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Death “happened” George Floyd, but not to Jesus.
B) Because he wanted to
v. 11-12: For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."
“…not ashamed” of us.
v. 13: Behold, I and the children you have given me
Take away:
Not immediate relief, but living hope.
Motivation to live up to the family likeness.
Prayer of Confession
Heavenly Father, you made us to be like you—to enjoy you, to love one another, and to care for this world as you do. But we have squandered our calling. Everywhere we look, in religion, within ourselves, in our families, in the ways we set up and run governments, in the environment, in our thinking, in our deepest allegiances, in the arts, in our bodies, we see death at work. We are quick to find fault for what is wrong outside ourselves—in our circumstances, in our upbringing, in other people, and even in you. We are slow to admit to our complicity in the world’s suffering. Forgive us for our blame-shifting, for our abuse of power, for our neglect of our earth, and for our neglect of one another. Make us more like our Elder Brother. Transform us and our world as we see the lengths to which you have gone to put things right. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
These days many of us are crying out for relief—relief from sickness, from bitterness and distrust in public discourse, from job insecurity, from confusion about what is real and true, from hypocrisy in public figures on the left and the right, from recurring patterns of injustice, from the endless litany of disaster—floods, famines, deaths from Covid-19, terrorism. If God exists, if he is the mighty Creator and Sustainer of everything, and if he is good—then why can’t he give us a break!? Why won’t he?! How might you try to answer a friend or child who asks you these last two questions?
According to Hebrews 2:7-8, which quotes Psalm 8, human beings have a God-like calling—to bring a wholesome and God-honoring order to everything in and around them. We read: 7 You made man for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet." How would you grade the human race on this high calling? Where have we fallen short? Where in one or two ways have you fallen short?
Reflect on the following statement: “God’s high calling for us in Hebrews 2:7-8 is the basis for the potential richness, beauty, and goodness of life. It helps explain places like New York where human enterprise runs full tilt and it explains why the recent (and possible future) lock down of work and relationships was (will be) so troubling to us. It further explains why the chronic lack of opportunity and the impeded freedoms of large populations in our country and the world are so demoralizing and frustrating to them: it undermines their built-in (their God built) purpose—it strips them of their essential humanness.”
Hebrews 2:15 tells us that we are “subject to lifelong slavery through fear of death.” How might the following statement describe your experience:
“With personal annihilation always looming, the temptation to grab and hoard, to see to our own safety and good reputation, to spin to our advantage, and to remove or silence those who threaten us is very strong. It starts in the sandbox and continues until our final hour. And this behavior, which can be both aggressive (through bullying and injustice) and passive (through indifference and neglect), leads to more suffering than we care to admit. We say, “Why, God, did you let George Floyd die?!” And God answers, “What have you done to make the world a place where such deaths are less likely to occur? Mr. Floyd’s death happened in a social world that I gave you to care about!”We struggle all the time to master our world, our fears and our sins. Jesus, by contrast, was completely in control: he fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, and confounded false and abusive teachers. Above all he mastered himself—loving and obeying his father even when it meant “tasting death for everyone”. He freely chose to share our human story in all its trials with one great exception: he never gave in to sin, not even as he perished unjustly. He did this for a reason—so that at the end of his life he could offer his lovely faithfulness in substitution for our haphazard faithfulness, so that he could make propitiation (v. 17) for us. Spend some time praising the Son of God for the lengths he went to rescue you.
Imagine how boring and unsuitable we must be to Jesus—the Person who has sustained the sun since he created it 4.5 billion years ago, the Person who is thoroughly and gloriously good while we are only marginally so, the Person who formed Albert Einstein’s mind, the Person who taught Mozart to write music, Aretha Franklin to sing, Sammy Davis Jr to dance, Bob Dylan to write lyrics, Mia Hamm to dribble, and Simone Biles to jump. Why he would ever want to be with us is beyond me. And yet he does. God came down and endured what he endured because he is “not ashamed” to call uninteresting, intellectually limited, morally weak, limitedly creative, boringly self-absorbed, negligent, broken, and even destructive people like us his brothers (and sisters--v. 12) and his children (v. 13). Do you find it difficult to believe that God actually likes you—that he wants to be in our family and he wants us in his? Talk to him about it.